Saltire: Annihilation Part 1 Review

Scotland’s first superhero returns in a brand new adventure as he protects Scotland form the Angles and Saxons led by Mercyan. Even though the Guardians of Scotland achieved victory in the first book, there is another evil, a greater evil on the rise, one that can only be stopped by Scotland’s favourite son, Saltire.

As the reader, you are still learning more about Saltire and his band of heroes, from their first outing we learned that Saltire and the heroes of Scotland are not to be taken lightly, then are well trained and efficient. Led by Saltire, a man with super strength and immunity to age but in this issue he has to battle an immortal. Vampires have annexed the land and they intend to expand their influence. So this sets up for an action packed issue filled with patriotism, friendship and lots of violence. The story is well written, the writing is not a work of art but it gets the job done. The reader gets a feel of Scottish heritage and the patriotism of its indigenous people. While some pages seem to end abruptly and not flow into the next page, by the end of the issue you still get the greater picture and are able to place the pieces together with ease.

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The art in this issue is better than the art of its predecessor. Claire Roe and Lauren Knight work well together, giving rise to a comic that looks like something straight off of the pages of one of the better New 52 comics. The level of detail is great; the backgrounds of pages that lead up to intense action scenes are fully detailed. The penciling looks great and really brings out the most of each scene. The action scenes are violent and powerful, the character movements are drawn with precision, making the action scenes flow from panel to panel adding great pace to these adrenalin pumping action scenes. The improved art also allows for facial expressions to be recognised a lot easier. The first time round the hazy light colouring made it difficult to follow the emotions at play.

I think this book is better than its predecessor, whilst the writing has not really improved it still tells a great story; the art on the other hand has improved and looks great. The previous issue had good art but everything felt a bit hazy and hard to follow because of the less intricate details. This is no longer an issue as the creative team has made note of what needed to be changed and have done a great job changing it. Saltire continues to impress me and it will be great to see where Part 2 takes Scotland’s first hero.